Breastfeeding as Contraception??

[Amberjee]

Alas DH and I had a broken condom incident last night. LO is only 6 months and I'm so not ready for a second. I'm pretty much exclusively breastfeeding, bar a few finger foods, and feeding 1-2 times at night. Thoughts? I really don't want to get pregnant now.

probably is okay as long as it turns into definitely!

Have your periods returned? I fell pg when ds1 was 3 months old and I was exclusively breastfeeding. However, my periods had returned when ds1 was 8 weeks old.

I thought that was an old wives tale? If you're having periods, you're capable of getting pregnant.

no periods as yet ...

wow tooty, that's fast!

I think the rule is you get 98% protection for first 6 months if exclusive breastfeeding and periods haven't returned.

Otherwise, all bets are off, supposed to assume you're fully fertile.

Since you ovulate before your first period, then its anyones guess whether you are fertile or not.

You can either wait a couple of weeks and test, or get the MAP if getting pregnant now is not on the agenda.

Hope it works out for you!

thanks guys, has made for entertaining conversation at least! i'm not too keen on the thought of the MAP, but also not too keen on the thought of being pregnant though wouldn't be the end of the world. sigh. wonder if its just a case of que sera sera.

Sorry - I was exclusively BFing and hadn't had any periods when DD2 was conceived when DD1 was 6 months old.

right well its failed for me TWICE, admittedly both times outside the 6 month mark

so...

Don't count on the fact that your periods haven't returned. Mine hadn't when I conceived DS2 - DS1 was five months and I was bfing. You can conceive the first time you ovulate. In our case, we made a conscious decision not to use contraception and have always been delighted at the 14 month age gap but if you wouldn't be thrilled to be pg you might want to think about 'morning after' contraception.

It failed for me too, we'll have 11 motnhs between mine!

oh dear. anyone NOT get pregnant?

DD 8.5 months and I'm not pregnant.

fell pg whilst bf - must have been the first time i ovulated - there will be 12mths between ds1 and new one

my nan had 8 months between her 2 eldest dds. she fell straight away whilst bfing and then when 8mo pg fell (literally) on the back door step and had her dd2 early!!

it can and does happen!

Same sort of thing happened to me Pennies. I was exclusively bf ds1 when I fell for ds2 and my periods had not returned. They are 15 months apart.

you probably will be ok...but it does depend, I suppose....personally I was never fertile whilest bf....but I know of others that have fallen pg whilest bf....depends on feedings gaps a bit, I think! Although with me even those never made a difference, iykwim

It is possible that you might be fertile, but there is a good chance you will get away with it.

I'm impressed that you got the energy for sex if you are still heavily breastfeeding.

Normally exclusive breastfeeding is the best contraceptive going. It makes you too knackered for sex!

Don't rely on it...

I went to school with a girl who was breastfeed exclusively. Her ob/gyn told her mother that if she was bf she wouldn't have to worry about contraception.

10 months after my school friend was born, her brother came along.....

I would just be soooo careful Amb, cos most women I know got their periods back around 6 or 7 months whilst b/feeding (me included) therefore ovulating 2 weeks before.

Can you take the morning after pill if b/feeding?

hi, just want to say I work as a midwifery assistant and have breastfed all 3 boys exclusively. I have 11 months between number 2 and number 3. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!